Page 1 of 1

Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 9:48 am
Hi all, I have been adjusting the dwell angle on my KLC trying to solve an bogging issue at high rpms under load (4 people in a ‘56 Holiday, can’t get over 2200).

Three questions for this august group:

1) I’m shooting for dwell = 35 degrees based on what research I’ve been able find. Sound right? How precise should I shoot for? +/- ?

2) I have an odd phenomenon where I clip my dwell meter to the negative post on the coil and the readings go all over the place (nonsense readings like >100). BUT if I clip it to the post where the negative line enters the distributor (ie, the other end of the same wire) it reads fine. Anything to worry about here? The resistance on the coil (flamethrower II) is in range (.7 ohms) but seems odd so wondering if something is amiss.

3) That all said, when it bogs, if I take the throttle down and go back up again, it will pick up then slowly drop again, which makes me think my high speed jet is too lean, but I want to get the Ignition dialed in before I tweak that. Sound right?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 10:07 am
by drrot
All the manuals I have give a gap of .022" No conversion to dwell. Possibly too new of a measurement.
I'd replace the coil to distributor wire, or bypass it with a jumper lead. See if it helps.
Remember after setting points you have to set the timing again :D

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 2:02 pm
Thanks, Jim! 35 degrees resulted in a .22 gap, so that all checks out. Still trying to figure out the wonky readings - will try the jumper idea!

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:47 am
by Bilge Rat
I had an issue with using a Flamethrower coil on a breaker point distributor. Odd power loss issues. Replaced with a standard "no ballast resistor needed" coil and no problems since. The fact that the Flamethrower was epoxy encapsulated sounded great but maybe not enough of a cooling function.

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:45 am
by Tom Gruenauer
You could remove the dis. cap, then rotate the rotor see if it moves and if it "springs back", That will tell you if the dis. is advancing.
My two cents.

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 4:01 pm
Thank you both! Think I will swap the coil (at least I'll have a new one) and will check the rotor action as Tom suggests. Much appreciated.

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 12:58 am
by jim g
Pertronix used to have great coils. But about 5 to 6 years ago they moved production to China and they became pure junk. I went back to using NAPA coils.

You want an IC14 coil from NAPA. If you have a external resistor get rid of it. All they do is cause problems on boats. The NAPA coil doesn't need one.

Also the coil your using is to low of a resistance. It needs to be in the 3.0 ohm range.

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 6:53 am
by George Emmanuel
Jim, is the IC 14 a 12 volt coil?

George

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 7:14 am
by maritimeclassics
UC-15 is a 12V coil and UC-14 is the 6V coil.

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 7:38 am
by drrot
napabook.jpg
From the NAPA book. IC7 is the 6 volt version at NAPA

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 2:49 pm
by maritimeclassics
OK so that's super confusing. Standard brand part number CU-14 it says its a 6 volt and that's what I have on the shelf. I even went online and ordered from summit racing and came up with the same thing. But Napa a uses a IC-14 as a 12V So I guess it depends on the brand.

Re: Dwell Angle for KLC

Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:56 am
Fantastic - went with the Napa IC7. Thank you all for the help!